A number of venues for the second meeting between Donald Trump, the President States, and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un, have been disclosed, including Singapore, due to its proximity to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
This was reported by the Korean Herald, a South Korean English-language daily, on Friday, January 11.
However, netizens do not seem to be too keen on the idea.
An anonymous official from the South Korean foreign affairs ministry told the Herald that the possible locations to pay attention to “are those mentioned by media including Vietnam, Singapore, and Hawaii.”
However, another official called Hawaii “an unrealistic location,” since it has no North Korean embassy.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in hinted yesterday, January 10, that the summit will be held soon. “To put it simply, Chairman Kim Jong-un’s trip to China is a sign that the second North Korea-US summit is near,” the South Korean President said.
President Trump has also said that the US is actively negotiating for a venue for the summit. He said last month that the next summit would be held “within plane distance.” He had expected the summit to be held either in January or February.
Kim Jong Un’s plane, the Chammae-1, can fly up to 7,000 kilometers, and both Vietnam and Singapore are within that distance.
South Korean officials had hoped that the second Trump-Kim summit would be held at the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea, Panmunjom.
The truce village was the site of Moon and Kim’s first meeting last year, on April 27, 2018.
One of the officials said, “We would like to hold the meeting at Panmunjom, but the probability of this becoming a reality seems to be slim.”
The advantage of holding the second Trump-Kim summit is that there are North Korean embassies in both Singapore and Vietnam, making coordination and arrangements possible.
Singapore was the venue of the first Trump-Kim summit on June 12, 2018, considered a coup for the Lion City.
Vietnam has expressed a desire to host the second summit.
This week, scouting teams from the White House were reported to be scouting locations for the next summit, including Bangkok, Hanoi, and Hawaii.
Meanwhile, upon hearing the news, many netizens reacted negatively to the it, saying that they preferred that the second summit not be held in Singapore.
Some pointed out the high cost of the summit, which is a burden on taxpayers.
Others said that the first summit did not seem to achieve much anyway.
Others humorously suggested that the summit would just give rise to another “disastrous” Miss Universe dress.
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